What does your Vudoo like better Center-X or Midas+

The best lot of Center-x outperformed all the lots of Midas+ at the test center, but on average Midas+ has slightly tighter groups when compared to Center-X. For me I don't think the Midas+ cost is worth it.

Same here, Midas + may be slightly better but unless it's a perfect day it's really hard to tell. Buy more center x and use the extra ammo to become a better shooter.

I've only shot Center X and the less expensive ammos, mainly SK Standard +, but also FGMM (awful) and Eley Target (Not horrible, but not great)

Center X is by far the best performer in my rifle.

IamJoHo said:

Thats kind of what I was thinking. But I'm also thinking stick with what I have instead of buying another 500 of the same lot. Maybe just stick with the 1k I have since I am hoping to go to the Lapua test center in a month or so.

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For the sake of not having to re-dope and re-zero, I just buy as much as I can and go with it. So I'd just do 1K, or 2K until you do the Lapua test center. I wasted too much time in my early years constantly switching lots and bricks and doping. I rather spend more time practicing fundamentals and competing in PRS/NRL22. Now that I did the test-center and bought 10K, I'm happy and good for the next year.

littlepod said:

For the sake of not having to re-dope and re-zero, I just buy as much as I can and go with it. So I'd just do 1K, or 2K until you do the Lapua test center. I wasted too much time in my early years constantly switching lots and bricks and doping. I rather spend more time practicing fundamentals and competing in PRS/NRL22. Now that I did the test-center and bought 10K, I'm happy and good for the next year.

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I tried several brands and types and lots and day in and out SK rifle match was best and even consistent between 3 separate lots. Yep

Midas+ and Center-X are not different ammunition. They both come off the same machines as does X-act. The lots produced are all tested and the best become X-act followed by Midas+. What is left is labeled Center-X. This is the same process Eley does with Ten-x / Match.

As such, if you test 10 lots each with Midas+ and Center-X most of the time the best lot will be one of the Midas+ ones. It is not all the time, but is so for the vast majority of rifles I have seen tested. Lot testing delivers a much higher average performance improvement than does jumping up a level BTW.

Incidentally, SK does not come off the same machines though Lapua doesn't switch the bullet shape and lube on its lower cost stuff as Eley does with their lower cost stuff so SK behaves a lot more like the Center-X family than Eley Target does like the Ten-X family and therefore makes a much better training round for those intending to train with something lower cost but similar to what the are going to shoot in a match.

I know I'm not technically answering the question, but I wouldn't limit yourself to just Lapua. I shot everything I could get out of mine, e.g., Eley Match Biathlon, Eley Match, Eley Tenex, Eley Tenex Biathlon, Lapua Center-X, Lapua Midas, Lapua X-Act, and what shot best was RWS Special Match. Center-X would have been a close second, but it absolutely loves the RWS.

I would shoot those first and decide. After shooting CX in mine, I had no desire at all to try Midas.
I went the other direction, as others have mentioned, buying lower ammo when the most precise shooting wasn’t required. I tried SK+, Rifle Match, Flat Nose, etc. I tried them all and kept some scores. The SK+ didn’t do it for me, but I’ve seen others shoot great with it. I found some good Rifle Match I liked and shot it unless I needed to step up to CX. Otherwise, I mostly stuck with RM. The Flat Nose was really good, but I had plenty of other rounds. I would try the long range stuff too based on what I’ve seen.
Maybe try that direction first, even if just a few boxes here and there.

BigJimFish hit this right on the nose, they all come from the same machines just different lots. I have taken 2 different rifles to the Lapua test center, one was a tricked out benchrest Remington 40X totally trued action, Shilen Ratchet barrel, Harrell tuner all the goodies. The other was a Bergara B14R stock rifle shot less than 250 rounds when tested. It is absolutely amazing to see the difference between lot numbers of the CenterX and the Midas +. The best the 40X shot was 10 shots of Midas+ at 50 meters was .491"(12.48mm) and it actually shot better at 100 meters at .487"(12.38mm). Unfortunately for me the Bergara shot the Midas+ the best same 10 shot groups 50 meters .575"(14.62mm)and100 meters.738"(18.76mm). The test center takes the shooter out of the picture along with the weather and a whole bunch of time and money. Send your gun in get it tested and buy what your gun likes and what you can afford. I actually got the CenterX for the Remington because I found a lot it liked that was close. .22 cal guns aren't easy to shoot it doesn't take a whole lot of wind to move that slow tiny bullet. Get as much trigger time you can get and practice & practice. One of the Techs there said the best he has seen was in the 9mm range, I think he said a Biathlon gun for the Olympics.

I don't own a VuDoo (yet) but the ammo question can be applied to any high end rifle. A good lot will beat an average lot of all of it. A good lot is amazing and you need to shoot several different speeds of CX and/or Midas+ to find your best ones for a given rifle. In the past I had some bad experiences with some Midas that was not stored properly or was old and for a long time I would not buy it. I tried some more of it last year and it shot slightly better in most of my rifles than my best lots of CX but the difference was minimal and a good lot of CX was very very close. I mostly buy CX to shoot with but this year when I began shooting BR matches, I started with a good lot of CX and bought more CX and some Midas+ to supplement my supply. In testing both the Midas+ was able to more consistently shoot better. For competition that was important. For practice it was not necessary. I bought all of that lot of Midas+ hoping it would get me through this years season. Looks like I will run out next month. Turns out this same lot of Midas is shooting really well in the Quad and some of my Win52's but I am saving it for competitions. Have only lost one match since mid-August since switching from CX to Midas and in that match I had scope rings that had vibrated loose contributing to a diminished score. No fault of the ammo on that. Good lots of Eley are the same way. But, seems for the last few years I have had less luck with Eley and Eley black costs almost as much as Midas and 10x is about the same as X-Act. Just for what is it worth, I have tested X-Act in several rifles and so far have not found one that would shoot it better that other Lapua ammo. I do have a unlimited BR friend who shoots more than me and who tested ammo at the Lapua Ctr and he claimed that Midas+ shot better than CX and X-Act shot better than all of it. He has run thru cases of X-Act this year.

In my limited 'testing', Center-X and Midas+ shoots the same. I don't have much X-Act, and the ones I bought didn't shoot well in my rifle.

I still need to make ~5 hour drive to Mesa to hit up the testing center.

My $.02 (again):

• I sent my Vudoo to the Mesa test center with request to test Center-X and Midas+. Discussing test results in not-quite-realtime, Devan showed the extent to which tested lots of Midas+ outperformed Center-X. The difference wasn't huge, but it was significant enough. So I asked if there were any more lots of CX he could try (and for which I was willing to pay if needed). Two more lots were tested... and the last one performed within a bullet's width of the best Midas+ at 100 meters (109 yards). For me, paying 40% more for under 1/4 inch at 109 yards wasn't a compelling ROI. So two cases of that last lot of C-X was ordered.
• When I first got the rifle, I tried all sorts of different brands/price points of ammo, from CCI SV to Eley Match. Were I to order another Vudoo, or someone asked me for advice as a new buyer, I would tell them what the revered Mr. Bush told me (and I didn't listen): just order Center-X and be done (easy button), mix in SK flavors for less-expensive practice if desired. Devan at the test center told me that all SK and Lapua flavors except Polar Biathlon use the same lube, so there is minimal or no POI shift when switching among them as there is when switching among more disparate brands.
• A buddy of mine had his Vudoo tested with his suppressor in place. All groups (C-X, M+) were unimpressive. So he paid to have the rifle re-tested without the can, upon which it posted a group of 0.4" center to center at 100 meters, a single-group record. Not all the groups were anywhere near that tight, but they were good enough that he bought two cases of that M+ lot.
• In one of the threads in this forum where this topic was discussed, Mike chimed in and said he wouldn't run a suppressor when searching for optimal accuracy. Conversely, a buddy of mine's bone-stock CZ-455 (in the Manners stock) transformed from typical-CZ to an astoundingly accurate rifle withe Eley Edge (the Eley equivalent of Center-X) when he screwed a Sparrow can onto it. I've seen that rifle in action - it's one of the unicorn CZs with the can in place.

Fwiw.